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German: Linguistics

Program Requirements

The Germanic and Slavic Languages Department requires a minimum of 18 hours of upper-division major credit to be taken in residence at BYU for this degree program. These hours may also go toward BYU's 30-hour residency requirement for graduation.

All students will purchase a portfolio packet when they enroll in their first class in the German section. This portfolio will travel with the students as they progress from course to course through the degree program. It will serve as a checklist to guide them through their course of study, will record their language proficiency, and will also be a repository for all papers and creative work produced by the student in the department. The completed portfolio will be reviewed in Germ 400R in conjunction with the senior proficiency exam.

A senior capstone paper is required for graduation.

Germ 200R and 300R are designed to help students who desire additional skill in speaking, etc.

Students planning graduate studies in German should begin a second foreign language.

Complete the following prerequisite courses: Germ 101, 102; 201, 202. These courses will be waived for students having comparable German training or experience (including Germ 330). Consult department for information about placement examinations.

Complete 8 additional hours of pro-seminars and/or courses numbered 215 or higher, 5 hours of which must be approved linguistics courses such as second language acquisition, dialectology, Middle High German, or Old Saxon.

400R: When preparing for graduation, students will complete the ACTFL Proficiency tests, including OPI (oral), WPT (written) and reading. The minimum aspiration is for Advanced Low across all these tests upon graduation.

2. Written Assignments and Research Papers

In written assignments, students will analyze and engage with concepts or German-language artifacts in a coherent, thoughtful manner appropriate to their course level. In research papers and capstone papers, students will demonstrate their abilities to 1) find problems and questions in the artifacts that they are discussing 2) compose thesis statements that make defensible claims that address the problems and questions in the artifact; 3) Compose a well-ordered argument that logically develops the ideas in the thesis statement; 4) Introduce specific supporting evidence through well-integrated quotes in carefully-crafted paragraphs.

3. German Language History

Describe and explain the critical changes and influences that shaped the history of the German language.

4. German Linguistic Structures

Describe the basic principles underlying the linguistic structure (e.g., word structure, sound system and sentence structure) of German and be able to recognize how this knowledge can help them increase their own receptive understanding and creativity with the German language.

5. Reading and Evaluating Sophisticated Texts

Read and summarize sophisticated texts, including but not limited to journal articles, on topics in linguistics and second language acquisition (including pedagogy). Students should be able to evaluate the content, limitations and argumentation of these texts.

6. Self-Reflection

Students will be able to reflect upon their own learning, language skills, writing, critical skills, etc. Students will be able to formulate for themselves the value of the time and effort that they have spent studying the German language and culture. Students will also be able to explain the experiences from their major in a way that will be recognized and understood by future employers and other members of the non-academic community.

7. Community-Based Learning and Engagement

Students will apply their learning in given classes to create projects that help contribute to the enrichment of others outside of those classes. They will move their research beyond the culmination of a final product submitted for a grade, bringing their work into the community and public domain, including helping projects outside the classroom in concrete ways, e.g., developing materials for an online lexicon project, creating enrichment materials and activities for K-16 German classes, creating posters and papers for conferences, being able to help other students in their learning and resarch. As a result, students will be able to articulate how their learning can be applied in real life and can be extended outside of the classroom and ultimately that their learning has and should have community impact.